"Hey, check it out! I just got a couple of new friends online!" Denny said from his computer.

Tai was sitting on a chair a few feet away, watching TV. He looked over at Deni and smiled. "Any of them real?" He asked.

"Of course, they're real. I'm not a loner."

Tai chuckled as he stood. He headed for a door on the far wall.

"Where're you going?" Denny asked.

"Out to the garage, "Tai answered as he walked through the doorway.

The garage was somewhat small, with just enough room for two medium-sized cars. A metal workbench sat against one wall. Various tools hung on the wall above it. In the center of the garage sat a large jet fighter. several parts were missing, and in some places, the plane's interior framework and wiring were exposed. Various parts and sheets of metal were strewn all over the floor around the plane.

Tai sat down in an office chair and slid over to one side of the plane, a toolbox in hand. He picked up a piece of metal and held it over a rectangular hole in the fuselage. Using a pen, he marked off the needed lengths on the sheet of metal, then used a buzzsaw to cut the metal down to size. He then reached down and picked up a welder's mask and put it on. Next, he picked up a blowtorch and began welding the piece of metal in place.

"You're still working on that thing?"

Tai jumped. He'd been so focused on his work that he hadn't heard Denny walk in.

"Geez, Denny," Tai said.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, yeah. I'm hoping that once it's done, it'll be worth some money so we can sell it and get a nicer place."

"No one's gonna buy this," Denny said. "People just aren't into customized jet fighters."

"I'm sure someone'll want it."

"I hope you're right."

Denny turned and went back inside.

"I hope so, too," Tai said, mostly to himself. If we aren't able to sell this plane, we'll have to use our emergency funds to pay for a new place, he thought.

One thing was certain. He didn't want to have to stay in the apartment any longer than they had to.

After he was finished welding the piece of metal into place, he took off the mask and set it down on the floor, then went back inside.

"Hey, Denny, did you still want to go to a football game?" Tai asked.

Denny walked out of the kitchen, a pair of tickets in his hand. "I thought you'd never ask."

An hour later, Denny and Tai were sitting in their seats inside Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough.

"Do you think we'll get any grief for not being Pats fans?" Denny asked. He was wearing his favorite Green Bay Packers sweater.

"I'm sure we will," Tai answered. He himself was wearing a Brett Favre Packers jersey. However, he and Denny weren't alone. As usual for Packers road games, there were Packers fans by the thousands.

"I'm gonna get a soda," said Tai. "You want anything?"

"Yeah, a Pepsi, if they have it."

Tai stood up and headed for the nearest concourse, ignoring the jeers and smirks directed at him. He looked around at all the people still filing in to take their seats. Among them, he noticed an Acanian family: a man and woman, together with their young daughter.

He was just thinking about how unusual it was to see more than one group of Acanians at a human-sanctioned event when he bumped into a large man. The beer he had been carrying spilled all over them.

"Dammit! Way to go, mutt!" the man snarled. He smelled strongly of alcohol, and it wasn't from the spilled beer.

"Look, dude, I'm sor-"

"Why don't you shut up and buy me another fucking beer!?"

"I don't have time for this."

Tai started to walk away when the man grabbed him by the shoulder, turned him around, and decked him in the face. Surprised by the blow, Tai stumbled backward and knocked over an entire snack kiosk. He was wiping blood from his nose when a security guard approached them.

"Gentlemen, I'm going to have to ask you both to leave," the guard said.

"Nice going, you sonofabitch," the man said to Tai as he walked away.
[not finished yet]